Saraki’s Final Legacy of Corruption and Walk of Shame
Senate President Poised to Name a Corrupt, Incompetent Professor as Director-General of National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS)

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For a man who is perilously close to going down for corruption and fighting for political survival and should be concerned with leaving a viable legacy for himself, Saraki is threading dangerously and making the same mistakes that led to his political waterloo in the recently concluded general elections. This is even more baffling considering how much he has prided himself for being politically savvy and even Machiavellian. He cleverly outmanoeuvred the APC and President Buhari and emerged as the President of the 8th Senate and has been able to navigate the murky waters of the 8th Assembly, surviving an allegation of forgery and a case with the ICC. Indeed, Saraki made a name for himself and carved a niche for himself as a political gladiator.

In the APC dispensation where the fight against corruption has been the buzzword, Saraki and the National Assembly have been presented as the direct antithesis of this worthwhile project. Whereas the Executive is presented as righteous and incorrupt, the legislature is painted as being the main reason why the fight to end corruption has failed to achieve the desired results. Several members of the Executive and individuals within the APC hierarchy have expressed this position in several public forums. In 2017, Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State openly castigated the National Assembly accusing it of lacking transparency. He expressed doubt over the support or otherwise ‎of the current National Assembly, particularly the Senate, in the fight against corruption by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

Despite the weight of corruption or perceived corruption on his neck and the seemingly incorrigible reputation for being corrupt since his days as Director of Société Générale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN) (1990-2000), Governor of Kwara State (2003-2011) and now President of the Senate (2015-2019), Saraki seems resolute to carry on this legacy by naming a crony and a man known to be corrupt and facing several corruption charges at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). In a matter of few days, Saraki will announce the former DG of his campaign as the Director-General of National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), the capacity development agency of the National Assembly.

Prof. Abubakar Suleiman is no stranger to controversy. A professor of dubious sorts, he was part of the faculty in the Department of Political Science, University of Abuja, specialising mainly in international relations. A documented lackey of Hajia Muinat Bola Shagaya, he was controversially nominated and cleared by the Senate as Hon. Minister/Deputy Chairman National Planning Commission. Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman in 2014. A position he held barely for one year. He was among the aspirants that contested during PDP’s primaries which eventually produced Barrister Razaq Atunwa, the member representing Ilorin West/Asa federal constituency at the House of Representatives. Prior to his current romance with the President of the Senate (Bukola Saraki), he was a staunch critic of Saraki whom he accused of electoral fraud. In a widely publicised interview with the Blueprint on July 7, 2018, Suleiman stated:

(Dr Bukola) Saraki has never won overwhelmingly. It has always been on slight margins and even with that slight margin, look at his performance even in his ward. You would discover that it was not a product of a free-fair election. That is why most of the elections ever conducted in the state ended up in litigation because the man is not on ground. The last time, he latched on the President Muhammadu Buhari’s factor to make some waves. Now, Kwarans are saying that it won’t work that way again.

Barely a few months after the said interview, Prof. Suleiman, in a clear demonstration of lack of principles, jettisoned his criticisms of Saraki and took on the role of the Campaign DG for Saraki which resulted in absolute catastrophe as Saraki was roundly disgraced out of Kwara losing at all levels to the popular Otoge movement.

As a compensation to Prof. Suleiman, the Senate President is now on the cusp of appointing Prof. Suleiman as the Director-General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), an agency of the National Assembly mandated to provide capacity support to the legislature. Having failed to have his nominees for the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) approved by the President, Muhammadu Buhari, Saraki is now determined to reward Suleiman with the position of Director-General, a position that recently became vacant following the expiration of the tenure of Prof. Ladi Hamalai.

The choice of Suleiman as replacement for Prof. Hamalai is puzzling. First, he neither has the capacity nor the experience for the type of job carried out by NILDS which is purely specialised on legislative support services including Bills drafting, analysis, scrutiny and other policy related activities. Suleiman’s discipline is international relations and he has no experience of working in the legislature. The position of DG in the Institute is not merely administrative but that of the lead expert expected to supervise all outputs from the Institute. This is a role clearly not carved out for a man like Suleiman whose pedigree is highly questionable. A quick search on google scholar does not turn out any credible publications under the name of Suleiman. It is indeed perturbing and a big ask on the judgement of the Saraki who seems unyielding in his resolve to put a square peg in a round hole.

Secondly, Saraki’s indifference to what is left of his ‘reputation’ and his determination to name a man with equally corrupt antecedents is at best a proof of his deviousness and at worst a justification of claims by his opponents that he is fundamentally corrupt to the core. It shows that he has been playing to the gallery when he expresses commitment to transparency and accountability.

In an on-going corruption case against Prof. Suleiman by the EFCC, it is alleged that he, along with Dele Belgore, a Senior Advocate of Nigerian (SAN) collected N450m out of the $115.01m, which a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, allegedly doled out to manipulate the 2015 presidential election. Belgore and Suleiman are accused of handling the money without going through any financial institution, contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act. This is an on-going trial.

More to that, it is clear that he is in direct opposition to the principles of accountability and transparency. On several occasions, he has criticized the efforts of the government in ridding the country of corruption. In a recent interview, he was quoted as saying this: “Today, Nigeria is at a crossroad. Less than three years after the exit of our great party (PDP) from the government, our country bleeds profusely from corruption, inept leadership, civil strives and economic hardship.” He goes further to state describe Buhari’s mind as corrupt and responsible for the violence and blood-let in the country. Despite the efforts of the government, he continues to maintain, against evidence, that insecurity under PDP was better than now. He has made jest of the anti-corruption campaign of the Buhari administration. Yet, this is the man that Saraki wants to make Director-General.

Clearly, Prof. Suleiman comes with a baggage, one that Saraki can well do without on the eve of his departure. He should be more concerned about leaving a worthwhile legacy rather than entrenching an already bad name that he bears for being corrupt. Chances are that even if he goes ahead to appoint Prof. Suleiman as DG, the decision is one that is likely to boomerang. With the anticipated emergence of core APC legislators as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, such a decision is likely to be rescinded. Even if this was not the case, the case with EFCC is one that is likely to catch up with both Saraki and Suleiman. The die is cast and Saraki’s last act as President of the Senate may end up being his worse. [color=#990000][/color]

Haske S.